Notice of Special and Annual General Meetings

ACT Veterans Cycling Club members will be receiving notices for both the SGM and the AGM in the post in one envelope and that they should be delivered on or before Tuesday 27th January to members' postal addresses appearing in the IMG database.

To register go to theIMG site. Logon with the username and password that you used to register last year. The annual subscription for 2015 remains unchanged.

If you have forgotten your password, go to top right hand corner and click on username and password. That will enable IMG to send you another password to your email address. To ensure you transfer the numbers and letters correctly it is advised to cut and paste.

Any queries please direct them tomembership@actvets.ccand not the contact on the password retrieval page.

RACE REPORTS:

Stromlo Criterium – 20th January

Weather conditions were “back to nearly normal” last week with a stiff breeze from the NE. “Nearly normal” in that it was cooler than usual for January being somewhat overcast. Numbers were down with the usual absentees on holidays, at the TDU or preparing for the Alpine Challenge at Bright.

G grade got away with a field of 7 including a first time rider trying out the vets crits. The riders stayed together until the last lap when the new rider, Nicole Bruce, put in a half lap sprint to leave the rest of the field in her wake. Minor placings went to Mike Sporljaric , Pauline Thorn, Graham Lindsay and Heather Sommariva.

A and B grade took to the track next after a discussion about warning flags, roos and race neutrality. Eleven A grade and 19 B grade started. Seventeen minutes into the race (A gr) Tom Hartley attacked but could only sustain the lead for a lap or two. The bunch broke up in the chase and 5 riders got away including Stephen Blackburn, Tom Hartley, Mark Harris and Mark Langman. The race finished with those riders in that order.

Bruce Goodman was the first to get way in Bgr. Bruce was soon joined by Tim Mineham . Thirty minutes into the race and Dale Kleeman and Marcus O’Toole were forcing the pace but with about 4 laps to go the field came together. The final sprint saw Bruce Goodspeed, TonyRowley, Marcus O’Toole, Time Mineham and Andrew Yates finish in that order.

C and D grade got away on time and C grade sought shelter from the “breeze” by creating an echelon but this came under individual attacks. Eight minutes into the race two riders, Dan Crocker and Dougal Torrance were away and stayed away till at least the bell. The results show Dougal Torrance winning and Chris Kon, Ben Vagnarelli, Scott Tozer and Wayne Shippley taking the minor placings.

Stephen Stolk was the first to take a significant lead and he continued to dominate the field by attacking throughout the race and eventually winning. Wayne Kenner attacked to a 30m lead about halfway through the race and finished in fifth place. Other placegetters were John Stokman 2nd, Kelvin Alley 3rd and Baden White 4th.

Eleven E grade and six F grade riders finished the programme. Both grades more or less stayed together and E grade executed a perfect overtake of F grade. Although E grade finished in a bunch sprint John Ignatius was a clear winner. Minor placings were Frank O’Sullivan, Mick Donaldson and Ian Morton.

In F grade Dennis Puniard attacked up the back straight in the last lap but Sue Frost put in a withering pace to catch him around the top bend and continue down the finishing straight to be the clear winner. Tony Sheehan was third and Sue Duckett and Barbara Bayliss took the other minor places.

It was notable that all riders were keen to co-operate to eliminate the overtaking and neutralizing problems that have occurred in recent crits. The event was hassle free as even the roos co-operated. Thanks to marshals Craig Kentwell and James Curran. Also thanks to Henry Beverstock and James Meredith who mentored me through my first attempt as referee at the Stromolo crits.

Paul Robey

Narrabundah Track Racing – 21st January

Unfortunately last Wednesday's Track Session was washed out by rain.

Dairy Road Points Race – 25th January

Sunday's points race was a day for the early birds. The 8am start was perfect for a bike race - cool conditions and almost no wind. With only 2 starters in both F and G grade the F graders not unsurprisingly happily agreed to ride with G grade. James Meredith and Nigel Wines then exchanged the intermediate spint points with James coming out on top eventually by 2 points over Nigel. Lindsay Graham won the race for 3rd ahead of Paul Robey.

E grade had the pleasure of a returning John "Dame Nellie Melba" Coleman (how many returns has John made?) in their field, and John after a few easy laps turned up the volume trying to get away with Des Brown. In the end, John was a pretty comfortable winner over Jon Barnes - who a number of C and D graders were overheard saying he had "ripped their legs off" the day before. David Turned pipped Des for 3rd on countback by coming third in the final sprint.

While a number of riders in E grade may have caught the handicappers eagle eye, John Stokman and Ian Preston certainly did in D grade. In what appeared to be a new level of professionalism for D grade, the two fuily kitted out Onyabike Giant riders jumped to the front almost from the get go and cleared out from D grade. Initially it looked like they were going to share the points on the sprints evenly but it eventuated that Ian was happy to gobble up most of the sprint points and let John have the victory on the last lap with Darren Garnon finishing solo for the only remaining point on the line at the finish. So what went wrong for team Onya? Overtaking the entire C grade field, including the handicapper! Not a good move boys as next race you can most likely ride with him in C grade.

C grade was probably the pick of the races - with almost the entire field figuring in the points. Ben Robey's track speed worked to his advantage with a couple of early intermediate sprint wins and then some second places and second in the final sprint for a comfortable points win in the end. Wayne Shiddley was second despite not figuring in the final lap points as these were comfortably won by Richard Bourne who soloed away from the field on the last lap for his only points.

Unfortunately we only had one A grader and 4 B graders so a combined race battled the increasing wind. Mark Langdon (the only A grader) upheld the honour of A grade by winning from Anthony Meredith and Tim ("take it easy on me, I've just come up from C grade") Minehan. Anthony's second place on the line in the final sprint just got him second place on countback.

Many thanks to our officials - and to the race committee for the clearing of the road (those willows and blackberries on the southbound leg were part of the course until late Saturday afternoon).